Question about rocks (1 Viewer)

[Loverboy19]

I'm planning to add some more rocks to my tank, so I bought some dry rocks. The question is, do i put the dry rock immediately to my tank after I clean it through with RO/DI water or put in the bucket filled with saltwater, add some bacteria and let it cycle for couple weeks before put it in my tank?

Thank you for your kind advice.

 

[Diesel]

Cycling in a large bucket with old saltwater from your tank and a small pump. Because it dry doesn't mean it's clean. There can be a lot of stuff in there that can trigger a phosphate source in your tank.

 

[inigomontoya]

Whole range of ways to handle it. Most important factor in deciding how to treat it is ratio of new rock to current cycled rock and tank water volume. For example, I would take a couple of rocks and drop them in my sump without doing anything but an rodi rinse and scrub with a clean brush. That's because of my large water volume.
If you have a smaller tank and are putting a lot of new rock in, you can do a combination of any/all of the following: muriatic acid dip (which will strip away actual rock and anything on it) followed by bleach, followed by leaving in sun, followed by multiple rodi rinses, followed by "cooking" or cycling in tubs in the garage. The number of those treatments you decide to do is based on history of rock and any concerns about it. At minimum, I would do what Diesel suggested just to avoid any ammonia or phosphate spikes.

For my new tank build I added primarily new dry rock and I did all of the above including a couple of months in a tub with saltwater to make sure I was starting with good, clean rock.

 

[rlpardue]

A decade ago people tried to 'save' as much of the live stuff as possible (but still get rid of the dead/dying organics), and now people nuke the rock before adding to their tanks lol. Did rock-traveling pests become more of a concern while I was taking a break from the hobby? I thought it would be cool to order some fresh LR from Indonesia, let it cook in a tub with a powerhead for a month or two, then add to tank. I like all the neat fan worms and stuff. Is that a dumb idea? I must be missing something.

 

[steveb]

I think the main concern with the "live" rock is unwanted flora and fauna. I'm doing mostly dry rock in mine but like you plan to order 40-80 lbs of high quality rock that I will QT to watch for bad algae and bugs...

 

[Loverboy19]

The rocks are here...I guess I ordered a little bit too much...I just washed all of them with RO/DI water

I also just changed my water and save the dirty water. I'll start cycling the rock with the dirty water in a bit. While waiting for the rock, I'll think about the aquascape...